U.S. President Donald Trump posted an AI-generated video that he said showed Iran’s key oil hub on Kharg Island being destroyed, but Iranian officials quickly rejected the claim and said conditions on the island remained calm.
The post came only hours after renewed hostilities between the United States and Iran, marking the first major military escalation between the two sides since July.
Iran Rejects Trump’s Kharg Island Claim
Several hours after Trump published the video, there was no independent evidence that Kharg Island had been attacked.
The White House and the U.S. Department of Defense did not immediately respond to requests for comment outside normal business hours.
Hamid Bovard, chief executive of the state-run National Iranian Oil Company, dismissed Trump’s post and said operations on Kharg Island were continuing normally.
According to Bovard, oil activity had not stopped, while workers remained focused on repairing earlier damage and upgrading facilities.
Trump Posts AI-Generated Explosion Video
Trump posted the video on Truth Social with a message claiming that Kharg Island had been “blown to smithereens.”
No additional details were provided.
Reuters later reported that the accompanying footage was most likely synthetically generated, based on software designed to detect AI-manipulated imagery.
The lack of confirmed evidence surrounding the video added to uncertainty over whether any attack had actually taken place.
Why Kharg Island Matters to Iran
Kharg Island is one of Iran’s most strategically important energy hubs.
Before the war that began with U.S. and Israeli attacks on February 28, the island handled around 90% of Iran’s oil exports.
Any serious disruption to Kharg could therefore have major consequences for Iran’s energy revenues, its broader economy and global oil markets.
Iran Warns It Will Respond to Aggression
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said the country was not seeking war but would respond forcefully to any attack.
State media quoted him as saying that Iran would not remain silent in the face of aggression and would respond decisively.
It was unclear whether his remarks were made before or after Trump’s post about Kharg Island.
Fighting Expands Across the Region
Iranian media said Tehran responded to an earlier U.S. strike on rocket launchers on Larak Island with attacks targeting U.S. bases in Jordan.
Iran’s military also claimed it had struck the UAE’s Al Minhad air base.
However, the United Arab Emirates’ defense ministry rejected those reports and said claims that the base had been attacked were false.
Iran’s foreign ministry said the strikes in Jordan targeted U.S. bases that had supported the earlier attack on Larak Island.
Iran’s military separately said its drone operation against the UAE base had targeted sites where U.S. forces and helicopters were stationed.
Iran Claims U.S. Drone Was Shot Down
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards also said their air-defense forces shot down a U.S. drone over Gulf waters.
The claim was reported by Iran’s Mehr news agency, citing a statement from the Revolutionary Guards.
At the same time, Iranian state television reported that a supertanker caught fire and was brought to a halt after allegedly being struck by two naval mines in the southern Strait of Hormuz.
U.S. Intensifies Sanctions on Iran
The renewed military confrontation follows several weeks in which the Trump administration increased economic pressure on Tehran.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Washington was preparing additional secondary sanctions targeting institutions accused of helping Iran.
Bessent indicated that banks would be an early focus of the new measures.
He also suggested that sanctions could eventually include cutting certain institutions off from the U.S. dollar-based financial system.
According to Bessent, further penalties could be announced on a weekly basis.
U.S. Says Larak Strike Targeted Minelaying Threat
A U.S. official said American forces had attacked launchers on Larak Island, located in the Strait of Hormuz near the strategic port of Bandar Abbas.
The official said Revolutionary Guard forces had been observed preparing to use rockets and sea mines in the waterway.
U.S. Central Command described the operation as a limited and precise strike against Iranian minelaying forces that it said posed an imminent threat.
The statement did not provide further operational details.
Strait of Hormuz Shipping Falls Sharply
Jordan’s armed forces said they intercepted eight missiles that entered the country’s airspace.
Meanwhile, shipping activity through the Strait of Hormuz remained heavily disrupted.
Data showed that only around five visible commodity vessels per day crossed the strait over the weekend.
The actual number may have been higher because some vessels reportedly switched off their automatic identification systems in an effort to reduce the risk of being targeted.
Iran Warns Ships Over Strait Rules
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said the supertanker damaged by mines had been attempting to pass through the Strait of Hormuz without authorization.
The group warned that other ships violating Iranian transit rules could face similar consequences.
Trump had previously said that mines had been removed from international waters and warned Iran against placing additional mines.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards rejected his claim that the Strait of Hormuz was open, maintaining that vessels still required Iranian permission to pass safely.
Strait of Hormuz Remains Critical to Global Energy Markets
Before the blockade associated with the six-month Iran conflict, the Strait of Hormuz carried close to one-fifth of global crude oil and liquefied natural gas shipments.
Any prolonged disruption to the waterway could therefore have significant consequences for global energy prices and supply chains.
Iran is also the third-largest producer within OPEC, making developments surrounding Kharg Island and the Strait of Hormuz particularly important for oil markets.
For now, Trump’s video has intensified speculation over Kharg Island, but Iranian officials continue to deny that the strategic oil hub was attacked.
